1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates to that field of devices consisting of articles of manufacture known as ski boots. Specifically, the instant invention is a ski boot having a pair of pivoting axis and a flexibly attached upper and lower tongue section.
2. Background Information
The prior art known to applicant discloses that ski boots are well known. These boots have been manufactured for many years, and have changed over the years in an ongoing effort to minimize skiing related injuries.
In the past, skis were connected to boots via a number of different connection devices. The early models of ski boots were low cut, ending at or below the wearer's ankle.
Unfortunately, the various forces which are exerted upon a skier's legs during the act of skiing often led to serious injuries. Most common among these injuries were broken ankles and broken leg bones between the knees and ankles. This problem was alleviated to some extent by the widespread use of releasable bindings which releasably held the ski boot to the ski. When a skier encountered a strong impact (for example, by hitting a bump or "mogul") while skiing, or applied excessive forward or rearward force to the binding (for example, during a fall or near fall), the tension exerted by the releasable binding would be overcome, and the ski would be released. Hopefully, the ski released before serious injury occurred.
However, even with releasable bindings, leg injuries continued to plague skiers. In an effort to minimize these injuries, ski boot manufacturers created boots which extended farther up the leg, holding the ankle steady during skiing. This innovation did not come without a price. These new boots tended to relocate the brunt of the forces encountered by the skier up the leg, to the knees. Instead of injuries being primarily located at the ankle, injuries which occurred while wearing these new boots began to appear more frequently at the knees, and at the bones between the knees and the tops of the boots. Approximately 600,000 skiers are injured annually in the United States. Since 1972, injuries to the knee ligaments have increased by about 300%. Among these types of injuries, perhaps the most common has become tears to the anterior cruciate ligament. Of all ski related knee injuries, approximately 60% are of this type.
Furthermore, the skier's themselves often contributed to worsening this problem by tightening the releasable bindings beyond a safe release limit. In an effort to maintain still greater control while skiing, the skiers often tightened the bindings which retain the boot on the foot, to an uncomfortable and dangerous tightness.